How to Escape Urien’s Unblockable Aegis

When Urien juggles you in the corner with a tackle and cancels into Aegis reflector, he hits you with a cross up knee drop while the reflector hits you from the front to cause an unblockable situation. From there he gets to launch and juggle you again, and if he has meter, set up another unblockable which will most likely kill you.

There is no way to truly escape this, but there is a way to get out of this bad situation by taking minimal damage. Simply down parry the reflector on wake up. If you do this, the knee drop will cross you up and hit you high while you are parrying low. Since both hits happen at the same time, you can only parry one of them, so you get hit by the knee drop. However, since you parried the reflector, that hit is nullified and the knee drop hits you cleanly. The knee drop causes a knock down so you escape being hit by the reflector.

After being knocked down, don’t quick recover. Stay down, and when you get up, even if Urien hits you high or low, the reflector does not stay out long enough for him to continue and launch you for a new juggle. This is not a perfect escape, but you manage to get through it with only taking damage from the knee drop, as opposed to the knee drop -> reflector -> down fierce -> juggle combo -> unblockable #2 and so on.

Unfortunately, this only works in the corner. Mid-screen, Urien doesn’t need to do a knee drop to start an unblockable, so you have to guess parry your way out. Urien generally only does stand forward, or low short, so the timing is generally 3 parries and then throw out of the reflector. But you have to guess whether he goes high or low. If you escape the mid-screen set up a few times, Urien might just throw you after the first parry and juggle you off the reflector, but that’s usually better than him getting a clean down fierce.

Mid-screen reflector unblockables are pretty terrible, but they usually don’t happen unless you did something stupid. Corner setups on the other hand can happen whenever Urien has 2 meters, so it is good to know how to escape it.

Verifiable Kara-uppercut Mid-screen

Kara-uppercut is really good. I have been trying to find more ways to land it, but generally it is up to your opponent to mess up to give you an opportunity to hit them, such as whiffing a throw for instance. Low forward -> DP and stand strong -> DP are generally the two main ways to land it. Unfortunately, neither is verifiable.

The hit confirm kara-uppercut mid-screen, the only way that seems to work is meaty UOH -> DP. It’s good, like after landing a super. But after a normal knockdown, your opponent can quick recover, and doesn’t leave you enough to time set up a meaty UOH on wake up. I have been trying to find some other way to land kara-DP mid-screen. Although I don’t think there is any other way, I came across something I thought was neat while experimenting.

I was thinking that if you could link jap DP after a meaty stand strong, that would give you enough time to verify it. You can in fact link jab DP after a meaty stand strong, however, you can’t get a second kara-DP. When you cancel stand strong into DP, you move forward and cancel before you get pushed back from the strong punch hitting. But when you link it, you get pushed back the full distance of the strong hitting, so you are not in range to hit a second jab DP. But you can link DP after a meaty stand strong. Not really useful, but kind of neat.

Ken Vs. Yun - Ken Strategy

Ken Vs. Yun - Ken can win this match.

Yun may be the best character in 3s, but that doesn’t me he outright wins for free. There is a lot Ken can do to beat him.

For Ken to win, he has to not only out play Yun, but out think him as well. You have to understand what Yun is trying to go for in order to know how to counter against it. Certain situations come up where all good Yuns will generally do the same thing, because it is the best option available for him. So to beat Yun, you have to pay attention to a lot of things you can usually take for granted in other matches, particularly screen position and super meter.

First, let’s break the match down into two different modes: Yun without meter, and Yun with meter. Yun without meter is Yun with roughly less than 80% bar. At around 80%, any random shoulder charge or chain combo can give him enough meter to start Genei Jin. Once Yun gets meter, you have to change the way you go about fighting him.

But first, Yun without meter. Yun without meter is helpless. He can’t do anything to you. Think about it, what can he do to Ken? Chain combo, throw, command grab; all worthless. You are never at risk to anything high damage. You therefore have absolutely nothing to fear from Yun without meter. Yun fears Ken. Why do you think he runs away and builds meter? Because he has no real offense outside of Genei Jin that’s threatening in any way. So Ken has to go after him and be on the attack. Ken’s goal is to attack Yun and not let him get meter.

Basic strategy is as follows: Walk towards Yun and put pressure on him. Do not dash; do not jump. Just walk forward. Yun does lots of random stuff. If you dash, you are at risk of getting hit by all the random moves he whiffs to get meter, or worse, a random shoulder charge. You do not want to get knocked down by Yun. You just want to steadily apply pressure on Yun and get him into the corner. Getting knocked down doesn’t help you achieve this goal. So don’t dash. Don’t jump either. Yun has too many anti air mixups. If Yun is on the ground, you stay on the ground, and just walk towards him.

Now if you continue to walk towards Yun, he is going to get backed into the corner, and he doesn’t want this, so jumping is his answer to this. When Yun jumps, you jump towards him at the same time. Jump roundhouse as early as you can. If you catch Yun on the way up, or if he goes for a dive kick, you will hit him. You have to pay close attention to Yun and be ready to jump as soon as you see him jump. If Yun is across the screen, jump EX hurricane kick. Yun is jumping to counter the pressure you are putting on him, either by jumping to escape, or attack by dive kicking. You jump kick him to knock him back down and keep putting pressure on him so you can get him into the corner.

If you manage to get Yun into the corner, you now have the advantage. Yun has very few options to deal with being down in the corner. If Yun is on his feet and has some distance from you, he is going to try to jump his way out of the corner. Watch for this and jump with him. If you knock him down in the corner, Yun is almost helpless to get himself out of this situation. He has no high priority wake up move without wasting meter, and Yun doesn’t want to waste his meter! If he goes for EX dragon kick and hits you, who cares. Yun’s super meter going in the opposite direction is always a good thing. Who cares about the little damage you took, Yun is back to being helpless.

But back to the corner. If you knock him down, the only way Yun can really escape is to wake up throw, or wake up parry. Yun gets up from a knock down really fast, and can throw you before you get your next move out if you are not quick enough. Most Yuns will wake up throw the majority of the time because it’s usually in his favor. The other option for Yun in this situation is to parry. If you have no meter, he will absolutely wake up high parry. Ken can’t do anything low which he can verify against Yun, so Yun is expecting chain combo. That means he is only going to parry high, unless of course he is stupid. An even slicker Yun will wake up option parry throw. That is his best tactic to get him out of the corner. Knowing this, you should always do low forward jab Dragon Punch to Yun as he gets up. You will usually hit him because he is either going for a throw or high parry. Low forward DP kara DP does a lot of damage. But let’s suppose Yun blocked low, you whiff a jab DP in his face; no big deal! Yun without meter can’t hurt you. It is worth the risk. Just do low forward DP.

Of course, like with any tactic, you can’t do it 20 times in a row and expect it to work every time. But Ken should definitely do low forward DP to Yun in the corner often. Other times, in order to mix it up, throw. Straight up throw him, low short tick throw, you can even mix it up even more and do low short tick and bait out the tech and low forward DP. Don’t even try to verify it, just guess. Remember, no risk, Yun can’t hurt you. Tick throws are good, but if Ken has no meter, never tick with stand close strong, because Yun parries in this situation.

Now, Ken with meter knocks Yun down in the corner. In this situation, Yun isn’t as likely to wake up guess parry as often because it is no longer as safe to do so. Ken should go for his usual mix ups on a waking opponent. However, ticking into something verifiable, such as stand strong low strong, or low short – short short, or low short low strong for instance is not safe against Yun. After the first tick hit, The only ways for Ken to verify hit a super can all be parried low. This is because Ken’s stand far strong whiffs over crouching Yun. Mixing in his axe kick more often can spare Ken from being low parried after every tick set up. Anyways, keep mixing it up, but don’t do something that puts Ken at risk of being parried safely. Yun is looking for an easy chance to escape, don’t give him one. If you are going to do any hesitation attacks, make sure you are far enough away to avoid wake up throw by Yun. Ken owns Yun in the corner. Get him there and keep him there.

Back to the middle of the screen. You are walking towards Yun to force him into the corner, but before you can react in time he jumps and dive kicks you. Yun is attacking you, but he has no meter, so nothing to worry about. After a dive kick, generally there are 3 things he could do: 1) chain combo/stand forward, 2) command grab, or 3) jump again. If Yun has no meter, and he lands and attacks with chain combo or anything else and Ken blocks, Yun has accomplished nothing. In fact, he is at a disadvantage, especially if he does jab short strong chain. If Ken blocks this, he can jab Dragon Punch or super before he recovers. But even if he hits you, no big deal, that damage means nothing in the grand scheme of things. A good Yun knows that chain combo accomplishes nothing, so he is most likely going to command grab or jump again. Command grab gets a knock down and he has advantage to first attack. Jumping is his other good option because he can repeat the process and dive kick you again, jump and cross up dive kick you, or simple jump away. So when Yun dive kicks you, as soon as he lands, chain combo him. If he jumps or command grabs, you hit him. Even better, option parry forward as you chain combo, this covers all 3 options Yun has. Also chain combo, never dragon punch. If Yun jumps, he can instant air parry on the way up. Short whiffed dive kick or roundhouse blocked dive kick, it’s all the same, always chain combo him.

Suppose Yun without meter knocks you down. If he stays on the ground and approaches Ken on wake up, there is generally only two things he is going for: command grab, or close stand forward. The only thing Yun has verifiable low is short short dash punch. Have you ever seen the damage that does? It does next to nothing. Yun without meter can’t hurt Ken. Ken has nothing to worry about low, and the Yun player knows this. But everything else Yun has is parry bait high, so the only things Ken has to worry about is command grab, and walk back stand forward. Both of those knock Ken down and repeat the process. So what should Ken do? If Yun stays close and approaches Ken as he gets up, it means he is most likely going for command grab, so fierce Dragon Punch on wake up. Say he blocks, no big deal, it’s worth it. However, you have to pay attention. If Yun looks like he is going to hesitate or take a step back, don’t DP. He is probably going for close stand forward. That stupid move has incredible range and hits from further than it looks. He is trying to trick you into sticking something out, and hit you first. In this case just block, whether he does the move or not, not big deal, you are both on the ground at this point, and Ken is back in control.

If Ken is in the corner and gets knocked down by Yun, always quick recover while paying attention to what Yun does. Some Yuns immediately go for the corner cross up, but others will super jump up and delay it going for either an ambiguous cross up, or a short dive kick to stay in front of you. But either way, if Yun doesn’t go for the cross up immediately, depending on how he knocked you down, Ken can get up and dash underneath Yun before he can dive kick. By dashing underneath him you change his direction up so he can’t dive kick. Yun will just come back down. If Yun went for the dive kick, he will just come straight down doing a kick and not be able to block when he lands. But even if he didn’t press a button, people are usually not quick enough to react to block the other way, especially since they were in the mindset of attacking you. Dash under him and short short or chain combo super.

If Ken is in the corner and gets knocked down by Yun and he goes for the corner cross up dive kick, just block. Don’t try to be slick and Dragon Punch, just block. Yun lands after the dive kick in the corner. That’s exactly where you want him to be. What can Yun do to you at this point, chain combo? If Ken blocks, he is screwed. He’s at a disadvantage in the corner with no meter. Sucks for him. If he is smart he is not going to chain combo. He is going to go for command grab. Command grab gets him out of the corner, puts you into the corner, and lands a knock down. That’s exactly what Yun wants, so that is what he is most likely to go for (unless of course he is dumb). So what Ken should do is block the dive kick, then jab Dragon Punch. You will hit him as he goes for the command grab, then kara DP him, and now Ken is back in control. But suppose Yun blocks your DP for some strange reason, no problem. He chain combo dash punches you or something. No damage, plus you are back in the middle of the screen and out of the corner.

After a throw midscreen. Whenever possible, always throw Yun with Ken’s neutral throw. After neutral throw you can dash up and do far stand fierce linked into super on Yuns standing crouch frame. But if you end of doing forward throw and Yun quick recovers, if you dash and do any normal attack, Yun can hit you first, so you are at a disadvantage after throwing him. However, a good Yun player knows this and always goes into attack mode after a throw. So you knowing that he knows this, can use this to your advantage. After he quick recovers and you dash, he is either going to chain combo, throw, or dash back. If you are quick enough, dash forward fierce dragon punch is the best thing to do. But some people find it hard to dash DP, so dash super works just as well. Yun is always going to try to hit you after quick recovering from a forward throw when Ken dashes, so just dash up and super him in his face. Smart Yuns will get hit. But if he blocks, who cares, he has no meter, no big loss.

A need trick to do midscreen, if you catch Yun with a fierce Dragon Punch mid screen when he’s air-born, but hit with it when Yun is half way up in the air or higher so the DP only hits once, you land next to Yun so that if he quick recovers you can ground cross him up really quickly.


The other mode Ken plays in is when Yun has meter. During this time, Ken’s overall strategy is to not do anything stupid. When Yun activates Genei Jin, it’s inevitable that you are going to lose some life. Just be calm and wait it out. Yun is going to get some damage for free, nothing you can do about that. But how much damage he gets depends on you; either how smart, or foolish you are.

Genei Jin Yun is all about control. Once he starts Genei Jin, Yun controls the match. You have to realize though that Yun’s goal is to not do a massive damage juggle combo on you. Sure if that happens, that’s like a huge plus for him, but it isn’t his primary objective. What Yun accomplishes by starting Genei Jin is basically making you helpless for the duration of Genei Jin. It’s all about control. Ken can’t attack, it’s too risky. The only thing Yun is trying to do during Genei Jin is knock you down in a way where he gets as much meter as possible and stays in control of the match. If Yun ever loses control, he’s done. That’s why Yun runs away and builds meter when things aren’t working out for him. He doesn't have a solid offense outside of Genei Jin and his knockdown wakeup games.

When Ken is near the corner, there are 4 ways Yun can start Genei Jin. 1), he can hit you with jab short strong chain combo or stand forward. This is the worst possible scenario, never let this happen. It’s 100% your fault if you let this happen. If Yun has meter, don’t do anything stupid to get hit. If he dive kicks at you, just block.That leads us to 2), he can start it next to you when you are blocking. 3), he can knock you down and start Genei Jin. And 4), he starts it across the screen. When Yun has meter, he wants to start Genei Jin next to you, but also in a way that he is safe and gets first attack to maintain control. Therefore, Yun wants to do 1, 2 or 3. So Ken’s job is to make him do 4. When Yun has meter, don’t get hit, don’t get knocked down, and don’t let him get next to you. As long as Yun hasn’t activated yet, he is still scared of Ken. Give him no choice but to start Genei Jin on the other side of the screen.

When Yun eventually does activate, if he’s got you in the corner, then his goal is to juggle you by the time his meter gets to less than 1/3 left. At around 1/3 or less, he is either going to command grab you, or he is going to fake like he is going to command grab, and hit you with stand close forward. The he gets his little juggle, he gets mad meter for it, gets a knock down in the corner, and remains in control of the match with first attack as you get up. Yun isn’t going to command grab you any earlier because it has no benefit. He can do just as much damage from juggling you after the command grab if he waits towards the end of Genei Jin. So for the first 2/3 of Genei Jin he is free to try to mix it up and trick you into thinking a command grab is coming and juggle you that way and get even more damage, or just go for random hop kicks for free damage until it’s time to do his 1/3 command grab/stand forward mix up.

Ken should just block for the first half of Genei Jin. It’s not worth it to try to hit him, you will just get hit and get juggled and lose massive amounts of life. Just block. He’s not going to command grab you until the end, it does just the same amount of damage and gives him less meter, so he isn’t going to do it. If he does a hop kick, if you can see it, block it high and then you can reversal super him before he can land and block. But if you can’t see the hop kicks, don’t guess, cause he could low short palm you or something instead. If you can see it, go for it, but don’t guess. Block low is Genei Jin fundamentals.

When Yun’s meter gets to about ½, this is when you pay close attention to what he does. He is getting ready to set up the command grab, so watch for him to get close to you, and as soon as he does, fierce Dragon Punch him. The majority of the time Yun is going for the command grab, so it is best to fierce Dragon Punch. If he hesitated and was going for close stand forward or something else, he might still get hit by fierce DP, or not, but it doesn’t matter. If Yun blocks and hits you on the way down, oh well. Yun gets free damage as soon as he activates, you did the best you could to limit how much he gets, he is only going to get the minimum this way, live with it, no big deal. At least you hit him every time he tries to command grab.

There are some other tricks Yun can go for during the first ½ of Genei Jin. After hop kicks or low short palm strike, Yun gets pushed back a big, so Yun wants to get back in close again. A lot of Yun players with make you block something like stand fierce, and then dash in while you are in block stun. Most people are slow to react to this and try to hit him or throw at the end of his dash but end of getting hit instead. Train yourself to look for Yun dashing in on you during Genei Jin. He is totally vulnerable at the end of his dash. You can hit him with anything you want, although it is easiest just to throw him since that is quick and easy execution wise. You should never get hit by dash up low short or command grab or something. Always throw him first.

Another trick Yun can do is get you blocking and jump towards you while you are in block stun. There are numerous things he can do to trick you and start a juggle. Don’t try to guess, just fierce Dragon punch. Don’t dash, don’t jump, just DP. If he parries it, oh well, better than doing nothing and getting hit because you couldn’t tell whether to block high or low. You have to remember that when Yun is in Genei Jin, he is going to get free damage no matter what. You can either be passive about it and always let him get lots of damage, or be smart and take control and do your best to limit what he can do. But you can only do so much, and from time to time he is going to get his damage, just live with it. Ken isn’t going to win by what he does during Genei Jin, he is going to win by going after Yun when he doesn’t have meter and prevent him from activating Genei Jin.

When Ken is out of the corner but still near it and Yun starts Genei Jin, he is almost always going to command grab you immediately and juggle you to the corner for almost a full combo. In this situation fierce DP immediately is a good idea.

If Ken is midscreen and Yun activates next to Ken, he is going to try to push you into the corner. The most common setup is low strong stand fierce, dash punch. Dash punch hits 3 times during Genei Jin, but if he does this setup, it will only hit twice because of the distance he is at and because you are blocking low. The way it hits it totally looks like Yun is vulnerable and you can hit him, but it’s a trick and you can’t hit him. If you blocked it low, just keep blocking low. But against Yun, you always have to be in the mindset of thinking about what Yun is going to do, what his best option is. So if you see him going into this pattern, block the dash punch high. If you do so, it will hit for the full 3 hits and he will be vulnerable, and you can combo him before he can recover. Otherwise, if he jumps or anything, just fierce DP him. Like always, when he is at less than half meter, he is looking for a command grab, so try to read it and fierce Dragon Punch him.

During Genei Jin, your goal is Ken is to not get knocked down. If you get knocked down, Yun gets meter, and stays in control. If you can DP him first or manage to avoid getting hit, then Yun has no meter and loses control of the match. But even if he does knock you down at the end of Genei Jin, just pay attention to what he does. Dash under him if he jumps and hesitates, or if he crosses you up with a dive kick, fierce DP his command grab attempt. You have to stop his momentum and prevent him from starting Genei Jin again. He is going to try to knock you down again so he can build his meter up and activate safely and as quickly as possible. Prevent him from doing this, that is Ken’s goal.

Other times during Genei Jin if Ken manages to knock Yun down while he still has meter, such as if Yun dashes and you throw him, as Yun is getting up, he most likely will try to hit you first since his moves are all quicker and out prioritize everything you can do. So just low forward super him. Who cares if he blocks, you waste time and his meter might run out by then.

Ken Vs, Yun is really tough for Ken. Ken has to work so hard and earn his damage, whereas Yun gets free damage every time he fills his meter. Ken has to be active in pressuring Yun and attacking as much as possible while Yun is building his meter. Prevent him from activating. Yun can only win if he can maintain control. Don’t ever let him get in control. Ken can totally win this match. But you have to always pay attention to where Yun is, how much meter he has, and think about what Yun is most likely to be going for in order to counter him effectively. Yun is a very robotic character in the sense that he has a lot of tactics that are generally agreed upon as being the best thing to do in each situation, so most Yun players are likely to do those things often. So by being aware of Yun’s strategy, you are implementing part of Ken’s anti-Yun strategy.

Ken can beat Yun!

Street Fighter English/Japanese Dictionary

Here is the Street Fighter English/Japanese Dictionary I am working on. I am continously updating it.

360 一回転 （いっかいてん）
720 二回転 （にかいてん）
air throw 空中投げ （くうちゅうなげ）
anti air 対空 （たいくう）
block reversal 確定反撃　（確反） （かくていはんげき）
body hit 腹やられ （はらやられ）
command throw コマンド投げ （コマンドなげ）
charge 溜め （ため）
charge partitioning 溜め分割 （ためぶんかつ）
chip damage 削り （けずり）
corner 画面端 （がめんばし）
cross up めくり
crouch, low しゃがみ
double hit (both players) 相打ち （あいうち）
footsies 足払い （あしばらい）
ground-air state 空中判定状態 （くうちゅうはんていじょうたい）
ground combo 地上コンボ （ちじょうコンボ）
ground crossup (over body) 裏周り （うらまわり）
ground crossup (under jump) 潜る （くぐる）
head hit 頭やられ （あたまやられ）
hit confirmation ヒット確認 （ヒットかくにん）
hold (ex forward) 入れっぱ（なし） （いれっぱ（なし））
instant air parry 昇りプロッキング （のぼりブロッキング）
joystick back レバー後 （レバーうしろ）
joystick down レバー下 （レバーした）
joystick down back 斜め後下 （ななめうしろした）
joystick down forward 斜め前下 （ななめまえした）
joystick towards レバー前 （レバーまえ）
joystick up レバー上 （レバーうえ）
joystick up back 斜め後上 （ななめうしろうえ）
joystick up forward 斜め前上 （ななめまえうえ）
juggle combo 空中コンボ （くうちゅうコンボ）
jump back 後ろ斜めジャンプ （うしろななめシャンプ）
jump forward 前斜めジャンプ （まえななめシャンプ）
jump up 垂直ジャンプ （すいちょくジャンプ）
kara throw 移動投げ （いどうなげ）
kara UOH 移動リープ （いどうリープ）
kara Shoryuken 移動昇龍 （いどうしょうりゅう）
knocked back 横吹っ飛び （よこぶっとび）
knock down ダウン
knocked up in the air 上吹っ飛び （うえふっとび）
land (from a jump) 着地 （ちゃくち）
life bar 体力ゲージ （たいりょくゲージ）
link combo ノーキャンセル
low attack 下段 （げだん）
meaty attack 持続当て （じぞくあて）
mid attack(block high/low) 上段 （じょうだん）
mix up/trick フェイント
mix up(two choices) 二択 （にたく）
mix up(three choices) 三択 （さんたく）
neutral (ex throw) ニュートラル
normals attacks 通常技 （つうじょうわざ）
overhead attack 中段 （ちゅうだん）
projectile 飛び道具 （とびどうぐ）
psychic/random ぶっ放し （ぶっぱなし）
recovery/advantage 硬化差 （こうかさ）
read/predict 読み （よみ）
rushdown (super offensive) ガン攻め （ガンぜめ）
scrub パンピー
setup, trick 連携 （れんけい）
special attacks 必殺技 （ひっさつわざ）
stand close 近距離立ち （きんきょりたち）
stand far 遠距離立ち （えんきょりたち）
standing (720) 立（ギガス） （たち）
start up 攻撃発生 こうげきはっせい
stun bar スタンゲージ
super arts SA
super bar (meter) SAゲージ
super bar amount ストック数 （ストックすう）
super flash 画面暗転 （がめんあんてん）
super jump cancel ハイジャンプチャンセル
tap back 後々 （うしろうしろ）
tap forward 前々 （まえまえ）
throw 投げ （なげ）
throw whiff 投げスカリ （なげスカリ）
tick (with short to jab) 小パン （しょうパン）
trap/can’t move カタメ
trip guard (can’t block) 着地の隙があり （ちゃくちのすきがあり）
trip guard (can block) 着地の隙がない （ちゃくちのすきがない）
turtle (block all round) ガンガード
turtle (wait, just stand) 待ち （まち）
unblockable ガード不能 （ガードふのう）
vulnerable/can't block スキ
wakeup (get up) 起き上がり （おきあがり）
whiff 空振り （からぶり）
whiffed hits(not all hits) カス当たり （カスあたり）

Ken's Best Wake-up Attack

I’ve been thinking about what is the best thing for Ken to do as a wake up move lately. As much as I am a fan of blocking low, sometimes you just have to Dragon Punch fools, at least to let them know it’s a possibility, so they can’t have free reign over you on wake up. So for the times when you are going to do a wake up move, you might as well do the best one that has the best chance of hitting.

First off, wake up super is never a good idea. It’s a waste of meter, even if it hits. Wake up parrying is worse. Never do wake up parry. I can prove mathematically that wake up super/Dragon Punch/anything is statistically better than wake up parry. Since I mentioned it, here is a quick and simple argument to show what I mean. Suppose there are 4 possible things your opponent can do to you on wake up: 1) high attack 2) low attack 3) throw 4) block. If you parry high, you counter #1, but lose to #3 and #4. Similarly with a low parry, you counter #2 but lose to #1 and #3. But a fierce Dragon Punch on the other hand beats #1, #2, and #3. It only loses to #4. Therefore fierce Dragon Punch is ALWAYS a better option than parrying. This doesn’t even have to be contained to wake up situations. In any instance, fierce Dragon Punch is a better option than parrying. Fierce Dragon Punch can be used as a substitute strategy for teching throws if you think about it.

Anyways, back to wake up moves. I used to think that Ken’s jab Dragon Punch was his best wake up move because of the possibility of kara DP for massive damage and building bar. But it turns out that fierce Dragon Punch is a much better choice. It does less damage, and builds less bar than jab DP x2, but it hits more often, and that’s the key. How does it hit more often you might wonder.

3rd Strike is the first Street Fighter game to not have auto blocking after the first hit of a multi-hit move. If you block the first hit of say a fierce Dragon Punch, if you let go of the joystick or try to attack, you get hit by the rest of the DP. The lack of auto guard is what makes fierce Dragon Punch Ken’s best wake up move.

Often times people will do hesitation attacks on wake up. You do this when you suspect a wake up parry, so you hesitate your attack just a little to hit them after the parry window, but before they can move the joystick back to block. You can also do this to counter attack a crouching tech attempt by hitting their jab on recovery. They plan to attack, and do; they just hesitate a second before doing it, usually holding down back or just walking back before attacking. Now, if you were to do wake up super, the majority of the time it will get blocked because they will see the super freeze and know not to attack. However, if you do fierce Dragon Punch, it will hit more times than it would in any other SF game because of the lack of auto guard. In attempting a hesitation attack, they will inadvertently block the first hit of the fierce DP, but end of getting hit by the second or third hit. Since there is no super freeze, there is nothing to react to in order to decide to block. If people planned to attack, they will get hit by part of the fierce DP, unlike with a super where they can react in time to block. Characters like Ken and Chun Li who have verifiable links/cancels into supers will get hit by this all the time as they hesitate and attack, only to get hit by the last two hits of the DP.

Also, characters going for throws, especially those with long kara throws will get hit by fierce Dragon Punch all the time. Essentially any type of attack on wake up, even intentionally delayed attacks will all get hit by fierce DP. And of course any normal attack or meaty attack will get beat or at least trade with fierce Dragon Punch. The only time fierce DP doesn’t hit is if they intentionally decided not to attack and bait out the wake up move.

Fierce Dragon Punch is Ken’s best wake up move. It’s better than strong DP because of the extra hit and extra range. It’s also better than EX DP because it doesn’t waste any meter, and the extra hit of EX DP doesn’t ever make the difference of being hit out of auto guard. If EX Dragon Punch hits on a late hit, most likely plain fierce DP will hit too.

Of couse you don’t want to fierce Dragon Punch every time. Especially say against like Urien with meter, you should block low. You still have to be smart. Knowing when to fierce DP is key as well. When in doubt, just block low. However, if you just have to do a wake up move, do fierce Dragon Punch.

Ken Midscreen 1P/2P Cross-up Differences

Ken has different cross up properties midscreen depending on whether he is 1P or 2P. Hsien and I figured this out a couple years ago. I am still not sure why it happens, but it gives Ken a really good ambiguous cross up on wake up, especially if people are not aware of the 1P/2P differences.

The easiest, and most useful instance to demonstrate this cross up is after a knock down with Jinrai. If Ken is 1P, then after landing Jinrai he super jumps towards his opponent without attacking, he will cross them up as he lands right as his opponent is getting up. Ken sort of lands right on top of them so it is hard to figure out what side Ken landed on until it is too late and he’s strong fierce supering you. Now here is the really weird thing about this. If 1P Ken hesitates for just a split second, and then super jumps, he will not cross up. He will land on top of them again as they are getting up, but this time still be on the same side he jumped from. Again it is too fast for your opponent to see and if they were expecting the cross up, they will surely get hit by this non-cross up jump in.

The confusing thing about all of this is, 2P Ken works totally differently. 2P will never cross up. He always lands on the same side that he jumped from. What is different between the two sides mid screen I have no idea, but something is different. 1P Ken will cross up if you jump early, and not cross up if you hesitate and jump. 2P Ken on the other hand will always not cross up. 1P Ken obviously got the better deal out of this, giving him a really good mix up on wake up after a super. I’ve hit so many people with this by mixing up when I jump. It seems like no one really knows about this, so it’s a 50/50 guess for your opponent in your favor.

On characters Ken can do this to, especially against shotos and Chun Li, he should always pick 1P side. The slight difference in time between crossing up and not is really small, and most people probably don’t know about it to begin with, so knocking someone down with a Jinrai can lead to another super almost for free.

Ken Corner Cross-up Differences

In the corner, sometimes Ken can cross characters up, and sometimes he can’t. It has been really bothering me that I didn’t know exactly when and where he can do it. It can be really annoying when you think you are being tricky and do an empty jump cross up on wake up and do short short when you land, only to have done the super the wrong way because you thought you were going to cross up, but landed in front of them instead, or the other way around. So I did a bit of investigating to figure out when and where Ken can cross people up in the corner.

On some characters, the way they get knocked down affects whether or not they can be crossed up. Most characters have two different knock down states, head towards the opponent and away from the corner, and head away from the opponent and towards the corner. The only thing this affected that I previously knew about was Dudley being OTG’d. However, some characters only have one knock down state, for instance Makoto and Q. Coincidently, those two can’t be crossed up in the corner.

The other thing that seems to affect ability to cross up is what corner you are in. Some characters can only cross people up in their own corner. For example, 1P character can only cross people up in the 1P left corner, and 2P only in the right 2P corner. Why this happens I still have no idea, but this phenomenon is not limited to 3rd Strike. Alpha 3 and CvS2 both have weird corner differences. However, 3rd Strike is the first game that I know of to have 1P/2P differences mid screen regarding cross ups. I found something with Ken that demonstrates this. It is really useful in fact, but I’ll get into that another time though.

Here are the circumstances where Ken can cross characters up in the corner.

Alex, Dudley, Hugo, 12, and Necro can always be crossed up. No special circumstances required.

Ken, Ryu, Akuma, Sean, and Chun Li can be crossed up in either corner after a knock down that puts the opponent’s head out of the corner, namely a forward throw or back throw.

Elena you can always cross up standing. But in a knock down situation, Ken can only cross up Elena on wake up in his own corner after a knock down that puts Elena’s head out of the corner, namely a forward throw or back throw.

Oro can be crossed up in Ken’s corner after either a forward throw or back throw. However, Ken can only cross Oro up after a forward throw in Oro’s corner. I am still clueless as to why this discrepancy happens.

Yun, Yang, Ibuki, and Remy can’t be crossed up in either corner, even though they have two types of knockdowns.

Makoto and Q cannot be crossed up in either corner. Both Makoto and Q only have one type of knockdown.


Ken also has corner differences in regards to his ground cross-ups. For instance, he can only cross up Chun Li in his own corner. From playing I am aware of most all of the nuances of Ken’s ground cross-ups, but I will have to do some messing around in Training Mode to verify every possibility before I make a complete list.

Ken Far Standing Fierce

Ken’s far standing fierce is actually more useful than it seems. It’s great as anti-air, and good at poking at the taller characters like Dudley and Alex, but other than that, it doesn’t intuitively seem useful as a poke against the majority of the cast because almost everyone can duck under it. However, it works great as a poke against a waking opponent. It will hit every character on the standing frame of wake ups, even if they crouch. The great thing about this is that far fierce has great range, can’t be parried low, and it links into Jinrai.

This is a great new way to put pressure on an opponent and really adds to Ken’s mix-up options from mid range. From mid-range, where Ken can hit with low forward but low shorts shiff, there is not much Ken can do high that can’t be parried on reaction. Low forward super is the biggest threat from that range, so an opponent is likely to parry down rather than forward if Ken has meter. But now if Ken does far stand fierce as the opponent gets up, he hits a down parrier and links Jinrai. Far stand fierce is a much better move to do in place of stand roundhouse because if it hits you can link super, and if it is blocked, there is no risk of retaliation like with stand roundhouse. The move has really deceptive range, most people are shocked when they get hit by it.

Far stand fierce is really useful against Yun and Yang. When Ken forward throws Yun and he quick recovers, he gets up faster than most characters. If Ken dashes forward immediately after throwing him, Yun can throw Ken before he can do anything. So do neutral throw with Ken instead. After the throw Yun may wake up parry or try to jump. But instead he will get hit by far stand fierce linked into Jinrai. It used to be so annoying to throw Yun and be put at a disadvantage for knocking him down. Now Ken can have a real high/low mix up after the throw without putting him self at much risk.

Chun Li is the one exception to all of this. She for some reason doesn’t have a wake-up standing frame like everyone else for some reason. Really sucks because Chun Li quick recovers really quickly as well, and this would be useful against her if it worked.

Ken Complete Kara-Shouryuken Listing

Here are the circumstances where Ken can do 2 jab Shoryukens.

Midscreen:
Strong fierce Shoryuken Shoryuken
- Q

Stand strong/low forward Shoryuken Shoryuken
- Necro, Elena

Stand fierce Shoryuken Kara-Shoryuken
- Chun Li, Makoto, 12, Necro

Stand strong/low forward Shoryuken Kara-Shoryuken
- Ken, Ryu, Akuma, Sean, Chun Li, Makoto, 12, Necro, Urien


Corner:
Strong fierce Shoryuken Shoryuken
- Ken, Ryu, Akuma, Sean, Chun Li, Makoto, 12, Necro, Urien, Elena

Strong fierce Shoryuken Kara-Shoryuken
- Remy, Ibuki, Hugo

Stand fierce Shoryuken Kara-Shoryuken
- Yun, Yang, Oro

Needless to say, if you can do chain combo or stand fierce into double Shoryuken, then things like low forward work as well. If a character is at the top of the list, then all things below should work as well.